Last September, exactly one year after the launch of Every Woman Every Child, an initiative to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015, a new report shared progress made thus far and announced more than 100 new partners and major new commitments including $500 Million from Merck.
During an interview with us in which she discusses the initiative and what it means for midwives, Dr. Laura Laski, Chief of Sexual and Reproductive Health at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), announced country-level assessments to be conducted in eight countries that accounts for nearly 60% of all maternal and newborn deaths starting December 2011 and in 2012 with the goal of providing countries with “the tools necessary to prioritize the training, recruitment, deployment and support of health workers with midwifery skills in marginalized communities, and ensure access to care close to where women, adolescents and children live.”
Asked about providing wider access to human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and vaccine as part of the initiative, Laski noted that although five countries have made commitments in that area, the question has not received much focus. On its end, the GAVI Alliance is paying attention, announcing yesterday that it was “taking first steps” to introduce the HPV vaccine in nine countries by 2015 with negotiations underway to secure a sustainable price from manufacturers and for countries to demonstrate their ability to deliver the vaccines. According to Ziad El-Khatib, PhD, Fellow in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostat and Occupational Health at McGill University, the Alliance is committed to making the vaccine available for 5$ per dose, with ministries of health sharing 0.20$ per dose.
